Warm weather has finally hit the south Jersey area and I am more than ready to whip up some warm weather drinks! Where’s the fruit? Where’s the vodka? Where’s the ice?

Let’s start with a vodka infusion.

Summer is the best time (I think so right now, anyway — come fall, I may change my mind) to make vodka infusions. While infusions can take a long time to create, they’re really quite simple. You need a few key ingredients and time. Here’s one of my favorite summer-time infusion recipes:

Pineapple – Berries Vodka Infusion

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of strawberries
• 1 pint of blue berries
• 1 pineapple
• Large bottle of vodka

One week later, you’ll need:

• 1 pint of strawberries
• 1 pint of blue berries
• 1 pineapple

Supplies: large glass container. Really, you can use any kind of container with a lid to keep out air-borne impurities and onion-y odors in your fridge. Today, I used a giant mason-jar type thing I picked up at Target:

Ideally, you’ll want something like this: Glass Beverage Dispenser. However, mine was cracked when I loaned it out recently and I haven’t had a chance to replace it so I’m using it as a funky terrarium. Look:

 

Anyway, onto the directions!

Directions:

Clean the berries. Cut the green parts off the strawberries. Dump the berries into the glass jar.

Cut peel and core a pineapple, then cut into chunks. It doesn’t matter how big. You can just cut them down into whatever size will fit into the opening of your container, or you can cut them into bite-sized cubes to save for later (which I’ll discuss after I finish with the infusion). Dump the pineapple chunks into the container.

Pour the vodka into the container until all the fruit is covered. Place the container in your refrigerator and mark your calendar to pull it out in one week.

~One week later~

Open the container and remove the fruit with a slotted spoon. You’ll see the fruit has changed color. Here is a comparison of a fresh strawberry to the fruit removed from the vodka:

The fruit didn’t “go bad.” Remember, alcohol is a preservative (which explains why I look about a century younger than I really am).

Now is when you clean your second batch of berries and peel and cube your second pineapple. Place the fresh fruit into the vodka and return to the refrigerator.

You can start drinking it in three days, but it will last in your ‘fridge for a looooong time. You may want to remove the fruit, though, at some point because it will look unappetizing.

This is a pretty dangerous drink in the sense that you won’t really taste that alcohol burn. It will be very, very smooth regardless of which brand (or what price point) of vodka you use. So warn any of your guests who may be imbibing.

Remember what I said about cutting the pineapple into smaller cubes? Well, at the end of your first week, you can remove the fruit with a slotted spoon and place it into a plastic, seal-able bag. Put the bag in the freezer and later you can use the frozen fruit as ice cubes in club soda, seltzer water, tonic water, and more. The fruit will be loaded with vodka, which will be slowly released into the drink. So, again, let your guests know what’s in their glasses!

Now then, maybe your appetite has been whetted. You want something berry-ish, pineapple-ish and vodka-ish but are a big fan of instant gratification. No worries, here’s another recipe that might just do the trick. I got this from a cashier at Trader Joe’s, who has never steered me toward bad food (or drink).

Ingredients:

• Frozen berry mixture
• Canned pineapple juice
• Vodka

Directions:

Pour some frozen berries into a glass, filling it about a third of the way up. Top it with ice.

Depending on how strong you like your drinks, pour vodka into the glass then finish it off with pineapple juice. I like a 50-50 mixture. Here’s what it will look like at first:

It doesn’t look at all appealing, I know. However, by the time you take it into the next room or out onto the deck, here’s how it will look:

Nice, eh? You can add a squirt of lime if you want, but it’s not necessary.

Cheers!